When we went vegetarian (pretty much vegan) a year ago, you couldn't believe the concern we heard about our kids health... "but they NEED milk for calcium and meat for protein to grow, they will be sick and weak..ect." Anyhow I was uploading some pics from my camera today and it just struck me how big and healthy the kids are and how well they have grown on a vegan diet this past year (they are both in the 95th %ile for height and weight) My son has been vegan from birth since he was only a year old when we went veg and had only been breastfeeding and eating homemade babyfood (fruits and veggies only) up until then. Anyhow I thought I would post the photo here :) They don't look too "unhealthy" to me!

Anyone else want to post a pic of their healthy veggie kid? :)

Christine

Aw, what the heck, one more (they were ready with smiles for this one)! :D

Oh my gosh, the second picture is just so precious! You must enter them in the contest that vegetarianbaby.com does every once in a while! I love it!!!

Awww gorgeous!
I love those balls they are holding too! My friend used to have one.. Then we broke it XD.

great job with their nutrition, i commend you, we need better representatives like this

sweet little kids. You may love them now, but when they turn into teens, you'll hate them!!! Take it fro ma teen! Enjoy it while it lasts!!!

Only kidding! I'm sure they're lovely children.

AWESOME photos! They are beautiful children, and you're right....they look perfectly healthy to me.

what gorgeous kids! I love that second picture, it's just perfect.

They are totally beautiful Christine!

awwww, what a couple of adorable veggie cubs. yummy!

Here's my healthy veggie kids at the beach with their cousin. They are the big ones!

I have the sudden urge to go and pinch someones cheeks. :p

Very adorable.

rincaro, they are sweet as pie! and two boys! oh man! are you the only female in your house?

since we're sharing photos of our wee ones, here are mine. the boy is nearly 7 (vegan since he was 16 months) and the girl (vegan since conception) will be 3 in august. :)

I'm totally outnumbered. Me vs. the two little boys, and the one big boy. Actually my mom now has five grandsons!

Kreeli - they are such cutie patooties!

since we're sharing photos of our wee ones, here are mine. the boy is nearly 7 (vegan since he was 16 months) and the girl (vegan since conception) will be 3 in august. :)

they are adorable kreeli! i just have a question for you!! does your oldest one question his diet/lifestyle at all? what do you tell him and how does he feel about it? he is at the age where i'm sure he can understand a lot of it and i'm just wonder his opinion on it? does he ever show interest in eating like a hot dog or something at a bbq? i don't have any kids and i'm sure it will be a while (i'm only 17), but this is one thing i often wonder when considering if i would want to bring them up veggie!!

hi monkey086!

my son went through a phase when he was 4 and 5 years old where he would talk quite a lot about how when he got older he was going to eat meat and dairy products. i think it was more him sort of "testing" me to see how i'd react because he knows how passionate i feel about our lifestyle. i was very nonchalant, though, and told him that he is always going to be my love, even if he makes different decisions than i would, and that if he really wanted to eat foods that come from animals when he's older knowing all he knows, he can.

now, though, he's even more passionate about it than i am. he is often offered treats and things that aren't vegan and he declines very politely. a while back, he really surprised me when we were at a restaurant and he had ordered a "bean burrito with no dairy". when it came with a tiny bit of cheese sprinkled on top, he got pretty upset when i said, "it's okay, we can just scrape it off," (i know, i know, i'm getting too lax in my old age), and insisted we send it back so he could get one that hadn't been "tainted" in the first place. heehee. i'm so proud. ;)

aww...that's so cool! has he ever tried a hot dog or anything when he was younger and testing you? how did you or would you have reacted? also...when they are young and you sent them to a friend's house or school, how do you ensure that they are eating vegan, because at that age they don't really understand what they can and can't eat?

my boys are four and five and we are working on going vegan. the other day the 4yo told me he couldn't have silk on his cereal. cause the package said soymilk on it and he knows we don't drink milk. you would be amazed at how much they know.

my boys are four and five and we are working on going vegan. the other day the 4yo told me he couldn't have silk on his cereal. cause the package said soymilk on it and he knows we don't drink milk. you would be amazed at how much they know.


aww...bright little guys, that's so cute!

aww...that's so cool! has he ever tried a hot dog or anything when he was younger and testing you? how did you or would you have reacted? also...when they are young and you sent them to a friend's house or school, how do you ensure that they are eating vegan, because at that age they don't really understand what they can and can't eat?

no, he's never had meat. it was all talk back then, because it was, like i said, a test to see how i'd react. if he had, i probably would have just let it go. i firmly believe that if you make a big deal out of something like that, they get it in their heads that it's a great way to rile you up (which can be fun to watch), so i wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

i make sure that his school, and friends, all know about our diets. i send him with appropriate food (enough to share, usually), and it hasn't been an issue. he's pretty well-versed in what's vegan and what isn't and will ask his own questions now. if he's not sure, he usually declines whatever is being offered. he's thoroughly indoctrinated! :p

also, now that the boys understand that meat (and hotdogs and the like) are animals, they won't have anything to do with them!

http://i.xanga.com/monad/t/04190402%20003.jpg
http://i.xanga.com/monad/t/04190402%20002%20(2).jpg

Veggie since birth!

I'm getting her a t-shirt that says "Animals love me...Plants fear me."

The kids on here are adorable! Rinacro, your youngest son looks just like your husband. So cute! :p

Look at that pretty blonde hair. She's a cutie thulcandra.

Funny you say that formerbaboon. *Everyone* says that. But the boys are not his biologically speaking. They're his boys in every other sense though. He's such a good dad to them. (Their real dad alas, doesn't know what he's missing).